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Posted by: Erin Allen
“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” – Thomas Edison In August 1795, John Fitch not only demonstrated the first successful steamboat but was also granted a United States patent for his invention. A century later, on Aug. 12, 1877, Thomas Alva Edison is believed to have completed the model for …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, Events, Film, History, Manuscripts, Technology, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Guha Shankar, folklife specialist in the American Folklife Center and the Library’s Project Director of the Civil Rights History Project, a Congressionally mandated documentation initiative that is being carried out in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.) Dr. Martin Luther King’s …
Posted in: African American History, Audiovisual, Capitol Hill, Civil Rights, Collections, Events, Exhibitions, Folksonomies, History, Manuscripts, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Guha Shankar, folklife specialist in the American Folklife Center and the Library’s Project Director of the Civil Rights History Project, a Congressionally mandated documentation initiative that is being carried out in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.) Fifty years later, the …
Posted in: African American History, Capitol Hill, Civil Rights, Education, Events, Exhibitions, History, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Kate Stewart, processing archivist in the American Folklife Center, who is principally responsible for organizing and making available collections with Civil Rights content in the division to researchers and the public.) The planning and execution of the March on Washington in 1963 stands as an extraordinary testament to the …
Posted in: African American History, Capitol Hill, Civil Rights, Collections, Events, Exhibitions, History, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
On August 19, 1957, “West Side Story” began its pre-Broadway tour at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. About a month later, it opened on Broadway, changing the nature of the American musical and challenging the country’s view of itself. The show dealt seriously with violence, adolescent gangs and racial prejudice—themes rarely included in musicals—and …
Posted in: Events, Exhibitions, Music
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Guha Shankar, folklife specialist with the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.) A fall landscape of orange and red foliage rushes by a car winding down a long road…a stern-faced singer draws his bow across a single-stringed lute and sings a ballad in Serbian about the 1389 Battle …
Posted in: American Folklife Center, Audiovisual, Collections, Events, Folksonomies, Music, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Kate Stewart, processing archivist in the American Folklife Center, who is principally responsible for organizing and making available collections with Civil Rights content in the division to researchers and the public.) For many Americans, the calls for racial equality and a more just society emanating from the steps of …
Posted in: African American History, American Folklife Center, Audiovisual, Capitol Hill, Civil Rights, Collections, Education, Events, Exhibitions, Uncategorized, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is an interview from the July-August 2013 edition of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) discusses his memories of the March on Washington and its legacy. You were one of the leaders of the historic March on Washington for Jobs …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Events, Exhibitions, History, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
The Library’s blogosphere kept things cool in the July heat with a variety of posts representing the wealth and breadth of the institution’s collections and initiatives. Here are just a few selections. In the Muse: Performing Arts Blog Ben-Hur and Music to Race Chariots By Robin Rausch talks about musical adaptations of Lew Wallace’s well-known …
Posted in: Blogging, Collections, Congress Blogs, Education, Law Library, Music, Photos, Poetry, Social Media, Technology